Tuesday, 26 January 2016

When Santa's helper left his hat

It is a very well known fact in my crochet group that I Absolutely Do Not Like any form of toilet crochet.

Not toilet seat covers, not lid covers, not matching sets covering each and every object in the bathroom, not those dolls with their Spanish dresses covering a toilet roll, nothing. I do not promote it, when it appears I cower in a corner until it has moved down the Timeline, and otherwise I try to promote beautiful, modern crochet.
(Yes...I know, but - my group, my taste etc.)

But then I made this:

Seems there's an elf about...

I know!! Bless my soul, a toilet roll cover In My Own Guest Loo!!

Okay, so I saw similar somewhere on the web, browsed past, but obviously it stuck in the back of my mind although I never went back, and I was putting up Christmas decorations all over the house, inside and out, and I thought, what the heck, let me ride this idea and make Prettier Toilet Crochet.

Start with...a starting chain

Didn't have the pattern link, so I had to wing it. Starting out with a base chain that would ensure a semi-snug fit around my roll of toilet paper. Single crochet from there. I hooked quite a wide band of white, as I want to fold it over resembling a furry edge to the hat.

Onwards with the hat

Once I though it would be wide enough to double over, I continued with red, until as least a few rows taller than the toilet roll.

Now I had to shape this thing, with no idea how. Some decreasing of stitches had to be done, and the first attempt (reducing one stitch every second row) left me with a veeeeeeery long, pointy hat - no good. A decrease in every row resulted in a hat too short. So in the end...it was every one-and-three-quarters of a row. #exasperated

As I was going in the round as per amigurumi and not really counting, I marked the last spot with white, more or less went one and three quarters around before decreasing again...

White yarn marks the last spot

...until it was done and I folded over the white and then had to do something to the pointy bit, and I didn't want to make a pompom, when happily these appeared in a kitchen drawer of all places:

Jingle Bells :-)

And off the hat went, to spend Christmas in the guest loo, with all kinds of funny and quirky and pretty, Anneke's doily rug and my mom's potty (for used hand towels), my poetry collection and cartoons, a 1994 voter's letter and some pretty pictures, my gran's frame repainted and a Moroccan wire shelf.

Haha, so you fell of the "no toilet crochet" wagon! I have never made any toilet crochet but my granny did. As a little three year old I asked my granny if she was wearing the toilet crochet when we were out.... Opps. The hat she wore was never seen again after it!

That is the most ornate toilet room I have ever seen - glorious!I don't have any crochet around the toilet either - I just feel like it is easier to keep clean without having to be washing crochet covers every week (or few days depending on the tidiness of the residents/guests) although I have often thought about different ways of storing the rolls and keeping the dust off them (they are currently in a wicker basket).

I have often said that I don't dislike any particular form of music - each genre has its good and bad examples and it is a matter of finding the good.

Judging from your experience, the same could be said of crochet! Your Santa Hat does look adorable and it is totally feasible that the man in red might need to make a relief stop during the long journey around the world and with such a tight delivery deadline, it would be quite easy to rush off and forget a hat!

Thank you for showing me a more tasteful and non-kitsch toilet roll solution. :-)